If your organization is exempt from sales tax, you will need to:
- Be a registered Verification Services user,
- Add your billing information to your user profile, and
- Provide a sales tax exemption certificate to the Clearinghouse.
Typically, a tax exemption status is valid for three to five years, after which the billing contact will be required to reenter the certificate.
Sales tax for verification transactions is only applicable for the following five states: New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and West Virginia. If your credit card billing address is not located in a taxable state, you will not be charged sales tax on your transactions (for Clearinghouse account holders, this applies to the billing contact’s main address).
IMPORTANT: All unregistered Verification Services users will be charged sales tax if the billing address of the credit card used for payment is located in one of the taxable states listed above.
How Registered Users Can Apply for a Sales Tax Exemption
If you are a registered Verification Services user, you can apply for a sales tax exemption on future transactions using the following steps:
1. Click Edit Your Account under the right menu. You can also click the “Account Management” tab or “My Account” link in the upper-right corner.
2. Update your billing information in your account profile. Below the address fields, check the “Sales Tax Exempt” option. Checking the box does not guarantee you will not be charged sales tax for your transactions. To be recognized as sales tax exempt, you must also submit a sales tax exempt certificate for review and processing by the Clearinghouse, as explained in Step 3 below.
Click “Submit” in order to save these changes to your account.
3. If your organization is located in one of the taxable states, you will receive an email with a Web link where you can complete an online sales tax exemption certificate through Avalara (AvaTax).
- Click the link and follow the instructions to add your information and sign an online certificate.
- You will receive an email confirming your certificate has been submitted to the Clearinghouse.
- You will continue to be charged sales tax until your sales tax exemption certificate has been received, reviewed, and processed by the Clearinghouse.
NOTE: Certificates cannot be uploaded; in order to be approved, you must use the Avalara (AvaTax) form wizard as directed.